Robert  E.  Speer 
Missionary 
Statesman 


Secretary  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  Since  1891 


Moderator  Presbyterian 
General  Assembly  1927 


Published  by  General  Assembly’s 
Publicity  Department — 518  Wither¬ 
spoon  Building,  Philadelphia,  Penna. 
Walter  Irving  Clarke,  Manager 


The  material  assembled  in  this  booklet  is  designed  to 
bring  together  into  one  convenient  form  information  concern¬ 
ing  Dr.  Robert  Elliott  Speer,  for  many  years  secretary  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  Moderator  of 
the  1927  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
U.  S.  A.  at  San  Francisco. 

There  is  a  large  demand  from  all  over  the  field  for  such 
a  pamphlet  as  this  in  connection  with  the  world-wide  work 
of  the  church  and  various  phases  of  its  local  programme. 

Dr.  Speer  has  always  been  consistently  diffident  concern¬ 
ing  his  own  personality  as  related  to  the  promotion  of  the 
church.  He  has  steadfastly  clung  to  a  personal  prejudice 
against  modern  publicity.  During  my  term  of  office  as  na¬ 
tional  publicity  director  for  the  Presbyterian  Church,  now 
entering  on  the  ninth  year,  I  have  respected  Dr.  Speer’s  per¬ 
sonal  feelings.  But  today  he  belongs  to  the  church,  and  the 
church  insists  upon  definite  and  detailed  information  con¬ 
cerning  the  first  layman  who  was  ever  elected  Moderator  of 
the  General  Assembly  unanimously,  by  acclamation,  and 
without  one  opposing  nominee. 

WALTER  IRVING  CLARKE. 


2 


This  likeness  of  Dr.  Robert  E.  Speer  was  photographed 
immediately  after  his  election  as  Moderator  of  the  Presby¬ 
terian  General  Assembly  in  San  Francisco,  1927.  Thanks  are 
due  to  The  Presbyterian  Magazine  for  the  loan  of  this  cut, 
which  first  appeared  in  the  pages  of  that  official  medium  of 
the  Presbyterian  Boards. 


3 


Dr.  Speer  as  a  Student 

On  page  6  of  this  booklet  Dr. 
Hunter  refers  to  the  current  issue  of 
The  Intercollegian  as  printing  a 
youthful  portrait  of  Dr.  Speer  in  con¬ 
nection  with  the  50th  anniversary  of 
the  Student  Christian  Movement.  We 
asked  the  editor  of  The  Intercollegian 
to  lend  us  that  cut.  Because  it  was  in 
much  demand  elsewhere,  there  was 
considerable  difficulty  in  obtaining  it; 
but,  thanks  to  M.  H.  Blank  of  the 
Student  Department  of  the  National 
Council  of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Associations  of  the  U.  S.  A.,  New 
York  City,  we  are  privileged  to  use 
the  cut  in  column  1  of  this  page.  In¬ 
asmuch  as  the  cut  is  the  property  of 
the  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  we 
are  grateful  also  to  that  organization 
and  to  Jesse  Wilson  of  its  New  York 
offices.  _ 

Robert  Elliott  Speer  was  born  in 
Huntingdon,  Pennsylvania,  Septem¬ 
ber  10,  1867,  the  son  of  Hon.  Robert 
Milton  and  Martha  Ellen  McMurtrie 
Speer.  He  married  Miss  Emma  Doll 
Bailey  of  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania, 
April  20,  1893.  Their  children  are 
Elliott,  Margaret,  Eleanor  (deceased), 


Constance  and  William.  Mr.  Speer 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Di¬ 
vinity  from  the  University  of  Edin¬ 
burgh  in  1910  and  the  degree  of  LL.D. 
from  Rutgers  in  1920.  He  has  been 
Secretary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  since  1891.  His 
home  is  in  Englewood,  New  Jersey, 
and  his  headquarters  are  at  the  Pres¬ 
byterian  Building,  156  Fifth  avenue, 
New  York,  N.  Y. 


The  picture  in  column  2  of  this 
page  shows  Dr.  Speer  as  he  appeared 
in  his  earlier  days  in  the  secretarial 
work  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions.  We  are  indebted 
for  this  cut  to  Miss  Neva  Palmeter, 
Office  Secretary  of  the  New  York 
State  Christian  Endeavor  Union  at 
Buffalo.  It  is  reprinted  from  The 
Empire  State  Endeavorer  for  May- 
June,  1927,  in  connection  with  the  fact 
that  Dr.  Speer  was  one  of  the  leading 
speakers  at  the  State  Christian  En¬ 
deavor  Convention. 


(From  The  Presbyterian  Magazine, 
July,  1927.) 

Robert  Elliott  Speer,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
the  Moderator  of  General  Assembly, 
cannot  be  introduced  to  the  Presby¬ 
terian  Church.  He  is  built  into  the 
church  as  into  many  national  and 
international  Christian  movements. 


4 


Minister  Appraises  Moderator 


Dr.  Stanley  Armstrong  Hunter  of  Berkeley,  California, 
was  chairman  of  the  local  publicity  committee  for  the  1927 
General  Assembly  at  San  Francisco.  His  advance  publicity 
work  was  remarkably  efficient  and  thorough.  At  the  close 
of  the  Assembly  he  delivered  a  sermon  in  St.  John’s  Presby¬ 
terian  Church,  Berkeley,  which  contains  an  excellent  bio¬ 
graphical  review  of  Moderator  Speer.  It  is  reproduced  here¬ 
with  from  the  columns  of  The  Daily  Gazette  of  Berkeley  as 
printed  therein  on  Monday,  June  6,  1927 : 


“Dr.  Robert  E.  Speer  and  the  Re¬ 
cent  Presbyterian  General  Assem¬ 
bly,”  was  the  sermon  subject  of  Dr. 
Stanley  Armstrong  Hunter,  pastor  of 
St.  John’s  Presbyterian  Church  yes¬ 
terday  morning.  Dr.  Hunter  spoke 
first  of  the  adoption  of  the  report  of 
the  special  commission  of  1925  which 
declared  “never  was  there  a  clearer 
or  more  commanding  call  that  the 
church  advance  in  her  organized  cor¬ 
porate  work  at  home  and  on  foreign 
fields.”  He  then  showed  that  in  Dr. 
Speer  a  leader  for  this  advance  has 
been  found.  His  address  follows: 

The  election  of  Dr.  Robert  E. 
Speer,  senior  secretary  of  the  Pres¬ 
byterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
as  Moderator  on  May  26,  was  the 
outstanding  event  of  the  139th  Pres¬ 
byterian  General  Assembly  in  San 
Francisco#  Dr.  Speer  was  literally 
drafted  for  the  service  for  he  pre¬ 
viously  declined  to  allow  his  name  to 
be  presented  for  the  honor.  From  all 
over  the  country  there  had  come  re¬ 
quests  that  he  accept  this  office. 
When  the  Assembly  met  all  those 
whose  names  had  previously  been 
suggested  withdrew  and  Dr.  Speer 
was  nominated  by  a  Philadelphia 
layman,  Mr.  J.  Willison  Smith,  an 
elder  in  St.  Paul  Church,  who  spoke 
appreciatively  of  the  influence  which 
Dr.  Speer  had  exerted  upon  him  in 
his  early  manhood.  The  seconding 
speech  was  by  Dr.  Hugh  K.  Walker, 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Los  Angeles,  whose  friends 


also  had  been  advocating  his  selec¬ 
tion  as  Moderator. 

Dr.  Speer  presided  over  the  week’s 
sessions  with  great  tact  and  ability, 
and  the  addresses  which  he  gave  were 
marked  by  spiritual  fervor  and  true 
eloquence.  On  several  occasions  he 
revealed  great  versatility.  When  the 
clerk  of  the  Synod  of  Mexico  spoke 
to  the  Assembly  through  an  inter¬ 
preter,  Dr.  Speer  replied  to  him  in 
Spanish.  The  next  greeting  was  read 
by  a  missionary  from  Korea  who  rep¬ 
resented  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  church  in  that  country.  It  was 
suggested  that  Dr.  Speer  reply  in 
Korean  to  this.  He  mentioned  the 
fact  that  he  had  been  present  at  the 
last  meeting  of  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Korean  Church  in  which  the 
man  who  was  appointed  Moderator 
sought  in  every  possible  way  to  avoid 
the  honor  and  was  only  prevailed 
upon  to  accept  when  his  brethren 
claimed  that  his  two  years  of  prison 
experience  had  made  the  choice  most 
fitting.  Dr.  Speer  added  that  he  had 
been  in  prison  for  “the  faith.” 

When  he  was  inducted  into  office 
he  declared:  “I  have  earnestly  hoped 
and  prayed  that  this  might  not  be 
done,  that  you  might  have  found 
some  one  else  far  more  worthy  and 
far  more  capable  to  serve  the  church. 
Of  all  the  good  friends  whose  names 
have  been  suggested  there  is  not  one 
who  is  not  a  dear  personal  friend, 
and  each  could  serve  the  church 
better  than  I.  More  and  more  as  the 


years  go  by,  one  comes  to  see  that 
the  strength  of  every  church  lies  in 
its  pastors.  No  church  can  do  too 
much  to  glorify  and  dignify  the  task 
of  the  pastor.  I  had  hoped  that  you 
might  have  chosen  a  pastor,  a  leader 
of  a  definite  flock.  He  ought  to  be 
an  old  pastor,  if  possible  an  old  coun¬ 
try  pastor  who  had  toiled  in  some 
quiet  place.  It  would  be  a  joy  to  lift 
such  an  one  into  this  highest  honor, 
an  accomplishment  of  our  belated  ob¬ 
ligations.  Now  at  the  125th  anniver¬ 
sary  of  our  work  of  National  Missions, 
it  would  have  been  fitting  to  have 
chosen  for  Moderator  an  old  home 
missionary  pastor  as  we  meet  here  on 
the  westernmost  frontier  of  our  land. 
I  feel  by  your  choice  of  me  that  this 
Assembly  wants  to  bear  a  sure  and 
clear  testimony,  to  assert  to  the  whole 
world  in  these  days  of  unrest  and 
upheaval  and  of  questioning,  in  clear 
and  unequivocal  terms,  the  deathless 
tenacity  by  which  we  intend  to  hold 
to  our  missionary  obligation  and  pur¬ 
pose.  We  want  also  to  show  the  in¬ 
dissoluble  unity  of  our  fellowship.  We 
are  not  divided.  We  mean  to  find 
the  way  through  our  difficulties  in 
loyalty  to  our  convictions  and  our 
Lord.  I  ask  you  to  pray  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  may  come  upon  us  and 
guide  us  in  this  first  hour  until  the 
last.  Personally  I  feel  the  deepest 
unworthiness  in  standing  here,  but  I 
accept  this  honor  for  the  Presbytery 
of  Jersey  City  which  has  never  had 
a  Moderator,  and  for  the  Presbytery 
of  my  boyhood.” 

Boyhood  Influences 

Hereupon  Dr.  Speer  paid  a  beau¬ 
tiful  tribute  to  the  little  Pennsylvania 
church  in  “Huntington  among  the 
Hills.”  The  pastor  of  that  church 
for  the  last  twenty  years,  Rev.  R.  P. 
Daubenspeck,  who  was  sitting  as  a 
commissioner,  was  one  of  the  happiest 
men  in  the  assembly.  He  told  me  later 
that  although  that  church  of  600 
members  was  organized  one  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  years  ago,  just  a  year 
after  the  meeting  of  the  first  General 
Assembly,  it  had  been  served  by  only 
eight  pastors.  He  spoke  of  the  great 
honor  in  which  Dr.  Speer  is  held  in 
that  community,  and  referred  to  the 
godly  influence  of  Judge  R.  M.  Speer, 
a  trustee  of  the  church,  who  brought 


up  his  children  in  the  fear  and  ad¬ 
monition  of  the  Lord.  At  the  closing 
session  of  the  Assembly  as  the  Mod¬ 
erator  pleaded  for  a  renewed  devotion 
to  the  family  altar,  he  referred  to  the 
work  of  his  father  who  had  his  chil¬ 
dren  first  of  all  learn  the  Infant 
Catechism,  then  the  Shorter  Cate¬ 
chism,  and  finally  the  Larger  Cate¬ 
chism.  As  a  lad  of  fifteen  when  he 
went  off  to  school  he  knew  a  great 
many  of  the  Psalms  by  heart,  as  well 
as  the  Genesis  story  of  creation.  He 
told  also  the  influence  of  a  Bible  text 
that  stood  above  the  chancel  of  the 
old  church  of  his  boyhood,  as  he 
spoke  of  the  need  of  greater  reverence 
in  our  modern  religious  life.  It  was — 
“Worship  the  Lord  in  the  beauty  of 
holiness.”  Another  text  similarly 
placed  in  the  recess  of  the  church 
of  his  boyhood  was  “Holiness  be- 
cometh  Thy  house  forever.” 

All  over  the  Assembly  among  the 
five  hundred  ministerial  and  five 
hundred  lay  delegates  there  sat  many 
men  who  could  testify  to  the  quick¬ 
ening  influence  which  Dr.  Speer’s 
address  had  brought  them  in  times 
past.  On  next  September  10,  1927,  he 
will  be  sixty  years  old.  For  the  last 
forty  years  he  has  been  constantly 
speaking  to  great  multitudes  of  peo¬ 
ple.  Before  he  was  graduated  from 
Princeton  in  1889,  in  the  same  class 
with  Lewis  Seymour  Mudge  who  stood 
beside  him  on  the  platform  as  Stated 
Clerk  of  the  General  Assembly,  he 
was  active  in  intercollegiate  Christian 
work.  In  the  current  number  of  “The 
Intercollegian,”  which  is  celebrating 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Stu¬ 
dent  Christian  movement,  is  a  youth¬ 
ful  portrait  of  him.  Although  time 
has  left  the  marks  of  gray  on  his 
temples,  he  still  speaks  with  youthful 
fervor  and  power.  Dr.  Speer  stands 
well  over  six  feet  in  height  and  has 
kept  the  athletic  figure  of  his  football 
days.  In  those  foot  hills  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania  one  of  his  boyhood  diversions 
was  running  through  the  forests  and 
beating  the  deer  out  of  their  coverts 
into  the  runways  where  the  hunters 
awaited  them. 

Missionary  Joumeyings 

That  rigorous  training  has  stood 
him  in  good  stead,  for  in  his  mission¬ 
ary  journeys  he  has  been  called  upon 


6 


to  endure  hardships.  In  1896  he 
visited  Persia,  India,  China,  Korea, 
and  Japan,  and  in  1899  went  to  South 
America.  In  1915  he  went  to  Siam  as 
well  as  China  and  the  Philippines, 
and  in  1921  journeyed  again  through 
India  and  Persia.  In  1926  he  visited 
China  and  Japan.  Practically  all  of 
the  out  of  the  way  mission  stations 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  For¬ 
eign  Missions  in  sixteen  countries 
have  been  studied  at  first  hand.  On 
these  journeys  he  has  amazed  his 
missionary  companions  who  are  ac¬ 
customed  to  the  strange  food  and  the 
inconvenience  of  travel  by  his  adap¬ 
tability  to  strange  conditions.  On 
many  of  these  journeys  he  has  walk¬ 
ed  long  distances  in  preference  to 
other  means  of  transportation.  There 
is  in  Berkeley  today  a  retired  mis¬ 
sionary  from  Persia  who  is  proud  of 
the  care  which  he  was  able  to  ex¬ 
tend  to  Dr.  Speer  in  1896  in  his  own 
home  when  he  nursed  him  through, 
an  attack  of  typhoid  fever.  The 
dedication  of  his  book  “Missions  and 
Politics  in  Asia,”  in  gratitude  was 
“to  the  missionaries  of  Hamadan, 
Persia.”  His  associates  on  these 
travels  have  often  been  surprised  at 
the  hard  course  of  reading  which  he 
sets  himself  to  accomplish.  He  keeps 
abreast  of  the  best  in  modern  litera¬ 
ture,  averaging  two  books  a  week. 
Through  the  careful  husbanding  of 
every  moment  of  his  time  he  has 
been  able  to  write  more  than  twenty 
volumes.  It  is  characteristic  of  him 
that  his  first  book  written  in  1896  is 
“The  Man  Christ  Jesus.”  Some  of 
his  most  popular  volumes  have  been 
biographical  sketches  of  missionaries. 
His  book  on  Dr.  Cochrane  of  Persia, 
— “A  Memorial  of  a  True  Life” — was 
the  first  of  this  nature.  In  1903  after 
the  Boxer  uprising  he  wrote  the 
memorial  of  Horace  Tracy  Pitkin.  In 
1914  he  published  his  book,  “Studies 
in  Missionary  Leadership,”  included 
in  which  is  a  sketch  of  Walter  Low- 
rie,  his  predecessor  in  the  work  of 
the  secretaryship  of  the  board,  and 
five  other  missionary  statesmen.  In 
1911  he  wrote  the  study  book,  “The 
Light  of  the  World,”  which  reveals 


a  wide  acquaintance  and  correspond¬ 
ence  with  the  leaders  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  church  in  non-Christian  lands. 

Outstanding  Missionary  Statesman 

Dr.  Speer’s  writings  have  made  him 
the  outstanding  missionary  statesman 
in  the  world  today.  No  man  living 
has  more  friends,  in  India,  China  and 
Japan,  and  indeed  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  than  he.  They  are  the  kind  of 
friends  who  pray  for  him  daily. 

Some  occupy  high  administrative 
posts;  many  are  humble  and  lowly 
people.  In  his  book  on  “The  Stuff 
of  Manhood,”  the  Merrick  Lectures  in 
Ohio  State  University  for  1917,  he 
declares : 

“Every  one  ought  to  roughen  life 
by  friendships  that  will  bring  into  it 
those  influences  which  are  not  na¬ 
turally  in  our  daily  associations  and 
will  carry  us  into  contact  with  men 
and  women  who  struggle  harder  than 
we  do.  A  few  such  friendships  will 
help  to  keep  life  from  petrification 
and  to  make  us  aware  that  the  world 
is  under  a  cross,  and  that  our  hearts 
must  be  as  open  to  all  its  needs  as 
the  heart  of  the  Father  of  human 
life  is  open  always.” 

At  the  recent  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly  he  seemed  able  to  call  by 
name  nearly  every  commissioner  who 
rose  to  speak.  In  missionary  homes 
throughout  the  world  his  name  is  a 
household  word.  Thousands  of  people' 
in  the  Orient  think  of  America  in  the 
light  of  their  knowledge  of  him.  In 
the  closing  moments  of  the  General 
Assembly  he  spoke  of  the  influence  of 
Henry  Clay  Trumbull  upon  his  own 
life,  and  his  book  on  “Friendship”  he 
declared  to  be  the  best. 

Mr.  Speer,  as  he  prefers  to  be 
known,  is  a  layman.  He  was  called 
in  1891  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  before  graduation  from  Prince¬ 
ton  Theological  Seminary  and  has 
never  been  ordained.  In  1910  at  the 
time  of  the  great  world  missionary 
conference  in  Edinburgh,  the  hon¬ 
orary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity 
was  conferred  upon  him,  but  it  was 
only  after  the  repeated  urging  of  his 
friends,  like  Dr.  John  R.  Mott,  that 
he  could  be  prevailed  upon  to  accept 
this  honor.  I  saw  there  in  Edinburgh 
in  the  sessions  of  that  great  mission- 


7 


ary  conference  how  he  was  regarded 
by  the  authorities  in  other  churches. 

Mr.  Speer  was  married  on  April  20, 
1893,  to  Miss  Emma  Bailey  of  Harris¬ 
burg,  Pennsylvania,  who  was  an  un¬ 
der-graduate  at  Bryn  Mawr  College. 
For  the  last  twenty-one  years  she 
has  been  a  member  of  the  National 
Board  of  the  Young  Woman’s  Chris¬ 
tian  Association,  and  has  occupied 
the  position  of  president  of  the  board 
since  1915.  Their  eldest  son  Elliott  is 
now  head  of  the  schools  at  North- 
field,  Mass.,  founded  by  Dwight  L. 
Moody,  where  Dr.  Speer  has  so  often 
spoken  at  summer  conferences.  A 
daughter,  Margaret,  is  a  missionary 
in  Yeng  Ching  University,  Peking, 
China,  and  another  son  and  daughter 
are  studying  in  this  country. 

An  Interdenominational  Leader 

Although  a  denominational  secre¬ 
tary,  Dr.  Speer  has  been  a  great 
worker  for  inter-church  causes.  Six 
years  ago  he  was  elected  president  of 
the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America,  and  for  four  years 
afforded  excellent  leadership  to  this 
great  organization  giving  himself 
tirelessly  to  the  prosecution  of  its 
ends.  During  the  war  period  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Advisory  Committee 
on  Religious  and  Moral  Activities  of 
the  army  and  navy,  one  of  his  re¬ 
sponsibilities  being  the  selection  and 
preparation  of  literature  which  the 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association 
distributed  widely.  Favorable  men¬ 
tion  is  made  of  his  services  in  the 
history  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  war  work. 
Dr.  Speer  has  been  one  of  the  lead¬ 
ers  in  the  Student  Christian  Move¬ 
ment  and  has  spoken  at  most  of  the 
Student  Volunteer  Conventions  of  re¬ 
cent  years.  His  book,  “Of  One  Blood,” 
published  in  1924  by  the  Missionary 
Education  Movement  and  the  Coun¬ 
cil  of  Women  for  Home  Missions,  was 
used  in  thousands  of  churches.  The 
opening  sentences  of  this  book  are 
typical  of  Mr.  Speer’s  general  view 
point: 

“The  deepest  conviction  back  of 
this  book  is  that  the  Son  of  God, 
Jesus  Christ,  is  the  one  solution  of 
the  race  problem  as  of  every  other 
moral  and  social  problem.  He  came 


to  be  the  Saviour  of  the  world  and 
to  establish  on  earth  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  Race  wrong  and  injustice 
are  sin,  and  Christ  came  to  save  man 
from  sin,  the  sin  of  each  man  and 
the  sin  of  the  race.  When  all  men, 
or  enough  men,  love  and  obey  Him, 
race  misunderstanding  and  malad¬ 
justment  will  come  to  an  end,  and  all 
peoples  will  walk  and  work  together 
in  peace  and  unity.  These  pages  be¬ 
gin  with  this  conviction  and  end  with 
it.” 

Some  of  Dr.  Speer’s  best  known 
books  are  collected  character  sketches 
of  modern  Christians,  “men  who  have 
been  found  faithful.”  In  a  book  by 
this  title  he  gives  the  life  story  of 
General  Armstrong  and  Dr.  H.  C. 
Trumbull.  Others  described  are  John 
Lawrence  Thurston,  Henry  Dickinson 
Smith,  Samuel  Mills,  Neesima,  James 
Chalmers,  John  Leete  Rogers,  Harold 
Arthur  Watres,  Wallace  Somerville 
Faris,  Peter  Carter,  Arthur  Tappan 
Pierson,  William  Rogers  Richards. 

In  this  book  he  says:  “These 
sketches  of  real  men  show  that  the 
same  Power  which  worked  upon  life 
and  character  in  the  first  Christian 
century  is  at  work  in  the  world  to¬ 
day.  The  idea  that  Christ  cannot  do 
as  much  for  us  now  as  He  used  to  do 
for  men,  and  that  He  is  not  doing  as 
much  now  as  ever  in  the  history  of 
the  world,  is  a  mistaken  idea.”  From 
these  books  it  is  easy  to  find  who  his 
heroes  are — many  a  schoolboy  has 
learned  to  love  General  Gordon  be¬ 
cause  of  him. 

When  I  asked  one  of  his  colleagues 
who  was  in  attendance  at  the  Assem¬ 
bly  what  he  thought  was  an  out¬ 
standing  characteristic  of  Dr.  Speer, 
he  referred  me  to  the  first  chapter  in 
his  book,  “The  Stuff  of  Manhood.” 
This  first  chapter  is  entitled,  “Dis¬ 
cipline  and  Austerity.”  This  is  a 
chapter  with  many  quotable  sen¬ 
tences,  but  we  must  content  ourselves 
with  this: 

“All  men  and  women  who  want  to 
be  masters  of  their  lives  and  to  have 
strength  to  lay  beneath  the  work  of 
the  world  must  ask  God  that  such 
discipline  may  be  given  to  them.  Not 
alone  is  this  the  only  kind  of  train- 


8 


ing  that  can  produce  this  kind  of 
character,  but  unless  a  man  learns 
control  from  without,  he  will  never 
learn  self-control.  Unless  he  passes 
under  the  discipline  of  a  wiser  and 
stronger  hand  at  the  beginning,  he 
will  never  come  to  the  time  of  de¬ 
liberate  and  moral  self-discipline, 
which  alone  is  character.  For  this 
only  is  character — the  binding  of 
life  beneath  the  firm  sovereignty  of 
the  principle  that  is  the  heart  of 
God.” 

His  Deep  Spirituality 

The  abiding  impression  which  Dr. 
Speer  leaves  on  all  those  with  whom 
he  comes  in  contact  is  not  so  much 
his  great  intellectuality,  his  moving 
eloquence,  his  administrative  and 
executive  ability,  his  genius  for 
friendship,  as  it  is  his  deep  and  abid¬ 
ing  spirituality.  His  prayers  reveal 
a  soul  sensitive  to  God’s  presence  and 
wide  open  to  His  influence.  Jour¬ 
neying  across  San  Francisco  Bay  with 
him  on  the  ferry  boat,  I  ventured  to 
ask  him  his  favorite  hymns.  I  think 
that  the  five  which  he  mentioned  re¬ 
veal  a  great  deal  of  his  own  religious 
life.  He  spoke  first  of  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes’: 

“Lord  of  all  being  thronged  afar, 

Thy  glory  flames  from  sun  and  star; 
Centre  and  soul  of  every  sphere, 

Yet  to  each  loving  heart  how  near!” 

This  is  a  hymn  which  inculcates 
reverence.  Next  he  referred  to  John 
Ellerton’s  hymn,  “The  day  Thou 
gavest,  Lord,  is  Ended.”  This  is  a 
missionary  hymn  as  these  last  three 
verses  show: 

“As  o’er  each  continent  and  island 
The  dawn  leads  on  another  day, 
The  voice  of  prayer  is  never  silent, 
For  dies  the  strain  of  praise  away. 

The  sun,  that  bids  us  rest,  is  waking 
Our  brethren  ’neath  the  western 
sky, 

And  hour  by  hour  fresh  lips  are  mak¬ 
ing 

Thy  wondrous  doings  heard  on 
high. 


So  be  it,  Lord ;  Thy  throne  shall 
never, 

Like  earth’s  proud  empires,  pass 
away; 

But  stand,  and  rule,  and  grow  for 
ever, 

Till  all  Thy  creatures  own  Thy 
sway.” 

He  told  me  how  five  years  ago  on 
that  arduous  journey  through  Persia 
when  his  wagon  was  snow  bound  and 
he  had  to  wait  for  over  a  day  and 
a  night  in  a  miserable  Persian  khan, 
he  pieced  together  this  hymn  line  by 
line  and  rejoiced  that  he  was  able 
finally  to  have  it  complete.  Another 
favorite  hymn  he  said  is  “O  Zion, 
haste,  thy  mission  high  fulfilling”  of 
Mary  Ann  Thomson.  This  is  one  of 
the  best  modern  hymns  of  missions 
and  stewardship  with  a  ringing  ap¬ 
peal  to  the  church.  Lastly  he  men¬ 
tioned  Faber’s  “Faith  of  Our  Fathers!” 

His  Closing  Suggestions 

Dr.  Speer  in  bringing  the  139th 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly  to  a 
close  made  five  great  suggestions  to 
his  fellow  commissioners.  “Our  first 
great  obligation,”  said  he,  “this  com¬ 
ing  year  is  to  be  in  our  own  lives 
loyal  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
next  is  the  preservation  of  our  great 
Presbyterian  home  inheritance  in  the 
midst  of  the  challenging  conditions 
of  the  modern  world.” 

He  pleaded  for  grace  at  the  family 
meal,  the  training  of  the  children  at 
the  family  altar,  and  the  inculcating 
of  higher  ideals  for  home  life.  Third 
he  pleaded  for  more  reverence  and 
beauty  in  religion.  “Our  fathers  were 
reverent  men,”  said  he,  “they  treated 
sacred  things  as  sacred;  they  had  a 
love  of  true  beauty,  which  is  the 
beauty  of  holiness.  Do  not  let  beauty 
and  reverence  get  out  of  our  homes 
and  churches.”  His  fourth  word  was 
for  better  intellectual  equipment  with 
which  to  set  forth  the  great  convic¬ 
tions  of  Christian  faith.  “We  have  an 
intellectual  battle  on  our  hands  in 
’this  modern  world,”  he  declared.  “We 
believe  not  in  blindness,  but  reason¬ 
ably;  we  must  know  our  foundations.” 
Lastly  he  urged  the  setting  of  the 
ideal  and  the  obligation  of  evangelism 
in  its  rightful  place. 


This  photograph,  showing  the  new 
Moderator,  Dr.  Speer,  being  received 
by  the  retiring  Moderator,  Dr.  Wil¬ 
liam  O.  Thompson,  is  a  close-up  of  a 
portion  of  a  group  photograph  repro¬ 
duced  on  the  opposite  page.  Thanks 
are  due  to  The  Daily  Gazette  of 
Berkeley,  California,  and  to  The  Pres¬ 
byterian  Advance  for  the  use  of  this 
cut,  in  whose  columns  it  first  ap¬ 
peared.  Thanks  are  also  due  to  Dr. 
Stanley  Armstrong  Hunter  for  facili¬ 
tating  the  loan  of  the  cut. 


The  following  material  refers  to  the 
cut  on  the  opposite  page: 

(From  the  Presbyterian  Magazine, 
July,  1927.) 

Moderator-elect  Robert  Elliott* 
Speer,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  is  presented  to  re¬ 
tiring  Moderator  Rev.  William  Oxley 
Thompson,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  by  Elder  J. 
Willison  Smith  of  Philadelphia  Pres¬ 
bytery.  Numerous  friends  in  the  larg¬ 


est  of  Synods,  Pennsylvania,  had  ad¬ 
vocated  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Smith 
for  Moderator.  He  declined  to  have 
his  name  presented  and  nominated 
Dr.  Speer.  This  action,  together  with 
the  seconding  of  the  nomination  by 
Rev.  Hugh  K.  Walker,  D.D.,  who  was 
also  mentioned  for  the  office,  was  a 
big  factor  in  making  the  election  of 
Dr.  Speer  unanimous  by  acclamation. 
Mr.  Smith  is  chairman  of  the  Budget 
and  Finance  Committee  of  General 
Council  and  was  chairman  of  Assem¬ 
bly’s  Standing  Committee  on  Minis¬ 
terial  Relief  and  Sustentation.  He 
had  much  to  do  with  the  inception 
and  completion  of  the  New  Service 
Pension  Plan.  At  home  he  is  an  elder 
and  superintendent  of  Sunday-school 
in  St.  Paul’s  Presbyterian  Church, 
Philadelphia,  and  President  of  the 
West  End  Trust  Company.  Like  Elder 
Will  H.  Hays  he  has  done  much  for 
the  church  they  love  and  serve. 


10 


The  new  Moderator,  Dr.  Robert  E.  Speer,  is  here  shown 
shaking  hands  with  the  retiring  Moderator,  Dr.  William  O. 
Thompson,  after  being  conducted  to  the  platform  by  Mr.  J. 
Willison  Smith,  who  nominated  Dr.  Speer  for  the  office.  In 
further  explanation  of  this  picture  a  short  article  is  reprinted 
on  page  10  from  The  Presbyterian  Magazine,  which  loaned 
the  use  of  this  cut. 


11 


Dr.  Robert  E.  Speer  has  always  been  camera-shy;  but 
when  he  was  elected  Moderator  of  the  Presbyterian  General 
Assembly,  newspaper  cameras  bombarded  him  from  every 
side  and  as  many  as  80  exposures  by  flashlight  resulted.  That 
Moderator  Speer  yielded  gracefully  and  with  patience  to  this 
ordeal  is  manifest  by  his  expression  in  this  picture,  which  was 
one  of  the  many  newspaper  snapshots.  We  are  indebted  to 
The  Presbyterian  Advance  for  the  loan  of  this  cut. 


12 


Moderator  Speer  in  Action 
at  General  Assembly 


The  following  facts  concerning  Moderator  Speer’s  work 
at  the  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  in  San  Francisco  are 
reprinted  from  various  issues  of  Presbyterian  General  Assem¬ 
bly  Daily  News,  which  is  issued  by  General’s  Assembly’s  Pub¬ 
licity  Department  under  the  editorship  of  Walter  Irving 
Clarke : 


The  139th  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 
held  Its  first  business  session  in  the 
Civic  Auditorium  Thursday  afternoon, 
May  26. 

Robert  Elliott  Speer,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  of 
Englewood,  New  Jersey,  senior  secre¬ 
tary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions,  was  unanimously 
elected  Moderator  without  opposition. 

Mr.  J.  Willison  Smith  of  Philadel¬ 
phia,  President  of  the  West  End  Trust 
Company  of  that  city,  made  the  nomi¬ 
nating  speech.  The  seconding  speech 
was  made  by  Dr.  Hugh  K.  Walker  of 
Los  Angeles. 

Mr.  Smith  said  that  it  was  an  un¬ 
usual  privilege  for  him  to  come  from 
the  City  of  Brotherly  Love  to  nomi¬ 
nate  for  Moderator  one  who  was 
raised  in  the  foothills  of  Pennsylvania 
and  one  who  did  not  really  need  a 
nominating  speech.  The  candidate  he 
would  name  had  served  the  church 
faithfully  and  well  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  and  had  received  the  call  for 
service  in  the  path  of  duty  before  he 
had  finished  his  studies  for  the  min¬ 
istry.  He  had  recognized  the  call  to 
paramount  service  for  the  Master  and 
had  not  only  enlisted  many  other  men 
and  women  into  the  service  of  the 
Lord  but  himself  had  been  listened  to 
in  countless  addresses  expressing  his 
consecrated  and  earnest  devotion  to 
the  Christian  faith.  Mr.  Smith  re¬ 
ferred  to  his  own  personal  experience 
of  25  years  ago  when  this  nominee 


had  touched  his  life  and  awakened  it 
to  a  deeper  interest  in  the  cause  of 
the  great  Board  which  he  represented. 
The  man  whose  name  he  wished  to 
present  was  an  executive  and  admin¬ 
istrator,  a  world  scholar,  and  an  am¬ 
bassador  of  Jesus  Christ,  known, 
esteemed  and  loved  throughout  the 
world,  for  his  deep  Christian  charac¬ 
ter  and  for  his  fitness  for  any  office 
within  the  authority  of  the  General 
Assembly  to  bestow.  He  was  there¬ 
fore  honored  to  present  the  name  of 
him  who  had  for  many  years  been  a 
secretary  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  Dr.  Robert  E.  Speer. 

At  the  mention  of  Dr.  Speer’s  name, 
the  entire  body  of  commissioners, 
numbering  nearly  1000  men,  rose  to 
their  feet  and  applauded  continu¬ 
ously. 

Dr.  Walker  stated  that  he  was  glad 
to  follow  Mr.  Smith,  who  himself  had 
served  the  church  as  few  had  served 
it  in  recent  years.  He  said  that  Dr. 
Speer  was  one  of  the  best  known  and 
best  loved  men  as  well  as  one  of  the 
most  efficient  and  ablest  laymen  in 
the  Protestant  Church  in  America. 
He  referred  to  the  action  of  the  Uni¬ 
versity  of  Edinburgh  in  granting  the 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  to  Robert 
E.  Speer  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  he  was  not  a  Reverend,  the  only 
case  that  he  knew  of  in  history  of  a  lay¬ 
man  being  thus  honored.  He  regarded 
Dr.  Speer,  and  many  regarded  him, 
as  the  most  outstanding  Protestant  on 


13 


the  American  continent.  He  was  a 
missionary  statesman  whose  name 
was  a  household  word  in  mission  sta¬ 
tions  around  the  world.  One  of  Dr. 
Speer’s  daughters  was  still  serving  the 
Master  in  far-away  war-riven  China. 
The  election  of  Dr.  Speer  as  Moder¬ 
ator  would  honor  in  constructive 
fashion  the  overtures  which  had  come 
up  from  the  presbyteries  for  a  cru¬ 
sade  for  evangelism.  Under  his 
leadership  the  church  would  be  united 
as  it  had  not  been  for  years  and 
would  go  forward  to  the  greatest  con¬ 
structive  year  in  its  history. 

Dr.  Walter  B.  Greenway  of  Phila¬ 
delphia  moved  that  the  nominations 
be  closed  and  that  the  Stated  Clerk 
be  authorized  to  cast  the  ballot  elect¬ 
ing  Dr.  Speer  by  the  unanimous  vote 
of  the  Assembly. 

Dr.  Lewis  S.  Mudge,  Stated  Clerk, 
announced  that  the  ballot  was  so  cast. 

The  retiring  Moderator,  Dr.  W.  O. 
Thompson,  appointed  Mr.  J.  Willison 
Smith  and  Dr.  Hugh  K.  Walker  as  a 
committee  of  two  to  escort  Dr.  Speer 
to  the  platform.  Dr.  Thompson  wel¬ 
comed  Dr.  Speer  as  his  successor,  as 
a  friend  and  beloved  brother  and  as  a 
servant  approved  of  God.  Dr.  Thomp¬ 
son  spoke  of  Dr.  Speer  as  one  of  the 
three  or  four  if  not  the  first  Chris¬ 
tian  statesman  in  American  today.  He 
considered  that  the  church  had  hon¬ 
ored  itself  in  calling  Dr.  Speer  to  this 
office.  He  handed  the  new  Moderator 
the  official  copy  of  the  rules,  which  he 
confessed  that  he  himself  had  not 
read,  and  which  he  trusted  Dr.  Speer 
would  have  no  occasion  to  read.  He 
handed  him  the  gavel,  which  he  knew 
he  would  not  abuse  as  a  symbol  of 
office  and  authority.  He  knew  that 
Dr.  Speer  would  peacefully  wield  the 
gavel  successfully  in  the  best  interests 
of  a  united  church. 

Dr.  Speer  said  that  he  was  not  in¬ 
sensible  to  the  great  honor  accorded 
him,  but  that  it  had  been  his  earnest 
hope  and  prayer  that  another  candi¬ 
date  would  be  found  for  the  Moder- 
atorship.  He  had  rather  hoped  that 
the  Moderator  would  be  found  among 
the  working  pastors  of  the  church,  a 
leader  of  a  definite  flock.  More  and 
more  as  the  years  went  by  he  had 
come  to  realize  that  the  strength  of 
the  church  lay  in  the  pastors.  The 
church  could  not  do  too  much  to  rec¬ 


ognize  and  to  dignify  and  glorify  the 
pastorate,  which  was  the  highest  and 
best  of  all  the  services  of  the  church 
throughout  the  world.  He  felt  also 
that  the  Moderator  ought  to  be  an  old 
pastor,  and  preferably  an  old  country 
pastor,  who  had  toiled  through  a  gen¬ 
eration  or  two  of  men  and  who  would 
properly  be  honored  in  being  lifted 
from  a  field  of  quietness  to  a  place  of 
highest  honor.  Preferably  also  he 
should  be  an  old  home  missions  pas¬ 
tor,  particularly  at  this  time  of  the 
125th  anniversary  of  the  National 
Board,  to  bear  clear  and  sure  testi¬ 
mony,  in  unequivocal  terms,  assuring 
the  whole  world  in  these  days  of  un¬ 
rest  and  upheaval  in  foreign  lands 
that  the  church  was  clinging  with 
deathless  tenacity  to  its  world-wide 
enterprises  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  and 
that  we  intend  to  hold  fast  to  our 
own  missionary  purposes  and  obliga¬ 
tions.  We  must  as  a  church  enable 
the  whole  world  to  discern  us  as  de¬ 
voting  ourselves  afresh  to  our  sacred 
duty  of  extending  the  Christian  faith 
to  all  mankind.  Dr.  Speer  urged  the 
Assembly  in  its  proceedings  to  bear 
witness  to  the  indissoluble  unity  of 
our  fellowship.  We  must  be  one  body 
in  a  great  forward  movement  in  the 
name  of  the  Master.  He  felt  like  re¬ 
ferring  personally  and  particularly  to 
two  presbyteries.  He  thanked  the  As¬ 
sembly  for  his  own  Presbytery  of  Jer¬ 
sey  City,  from  which  no  Moderator 
had  ever  before  been  chosen.  And 
then  there  was  the  dear  old  presby¬ 
tery  in  the  hills  of  Huntingdon,  Penn¬ 
sylvania,  to  which  his  heart  went  back 
over  a  memory  of  50  years.  He  felt 
that  among  the  faithful,  devoted  body 
of  consecrated  men  and  women  who 
had  gone  up  higher  from  that  presby¬ 
tery,  there  must  today  be  rejoicing 
that  their  old  presbytery  had  thus 
been  signally  honored.  And  then 
there  was  another  hill  to  which  one’s 
thoughts  turned  on  this  Ascension 
Day,  and  in  connection  with  that  hill 
he  referred  to  the  Man  of  Galilee,  and 
he  urged  that  all  reconsecrate  them¬ 
selves  anew  to  bearing  testimony  to 
the  lifting  up  of  Jesus  Christ  among 
us  so  as  to  make  him  known  through¬ 
out  the  world  and  to  bring  all  men 
unto  Him. 

The  Assembly  extended  a  unani¬ 
mous  rising  vote  of  thanks  and  of  ap- 


14 


preciation  to  the  fine  spirit  mani¬ 
fested  by  those  who  nominated  Dr. 
Speer. 


When  the  General  Assembly  at  its 
final  session  Wednesday  morning  had 
listened  to  the  reading  of  the  minutes 
for  Tuesday,  some  question  arose  as 
to  the  item  covering  the  action  con¬ 
cerning  the  decision  of  the  Perma¬ 
nent  Judicial  Commission  in  Case  1. 
Reference  was  made  to  parliamentary 
confusion  which  had  attended  consid¬ 
eration  of  this  particular  case. 

Moderator  Speer  addressed  to  the 
Assembly  a  frank  and  fervent  state¬ 
ment  of  his  own  state  of  mind  con¬ 
cerning  this  matter.  He  said  that  he 
felt  that  mistakes  had  been  made  on 
all  sides,  freely  admitted  his  own,  and 
asked  forgiveness.  He  considered  that 
attempts  to  open  up  the  matter  anew 
might  result  in  leading  the  Assembly 
into  deeper  water.  He  therefore  earn¬ 
estly  suggested  that  it  all  be  left  to 
the  Lord.  Dr.  Speer  put  the  whole 
matter  on  a  deep  spiritual  basis  and 
made  a  most  profound,  in  fact  solemn, 
impression  upon  the  Assembly. 

The  effect  was  the  adoption  of  the 
minutes,  including  the  item  about 
Judicial  Case  1,  by  an  unanimous 
vote. 

A  resolution  was  suggested  from  the 
floor  to  the  effect  that  this  dis¬ 
posal  of  Case  1  should  in  no  w7ay  be 
construed  as  calling  into  question  the 
faith  of  the  Assembly  concerning  the 
Virgin  Birth. 

Moderator  Speer  immediately  re¬ 
sponded  by  quoting  the  Apostles’ 


Creed.  As  he  uttered  the  passage 
committing  the  speaker  to  faith  in 
the  Virgin  Birth,  all  of  the  commis¬ 
sioners  rose  to  their  feet,  and  the 
mover  of  the  resolution  stated  that 
he  accepted  that  as  the  Assembly’s 
unanimous  vote  for  that  portion  of 
the  Creed. 

Many  expressed  the  feeling  that  the 
Moderator’s  faith  in  God  and  in  God’s 
guidance,  so  deeply  uttered,  had  car¬ 
ried  the  Assembly  through  what 
threatened  to  be  a  most  trying  ordeal. 

On  motion  following  a  suggestion 
of  the  Moderator  the  Assembly  com¬ 
mitted  to  the  General  Council  the 
task  of  studying  carefully  during  the 
year  the  form  of  procedure  in  the 
consideration  of  judicial  cases,  to  re¬ 
port  what  changes,  if  any,  should  be 
made,  at  the  next  General  Assembly, 
since  the  parliamentary  tangle  of  the 
day  before  had  arisen  largely  because 
of  the  fact  that  this  was  the  first  time 
the  new  and  difficult  rules  had  been 
acted  under.  The  new  rules  were  de¬ 
signed  originally  to  protect  the  rights 
of  minorities  and  dissenting  opinions. 

The  major  part  of  the  session  was 
devoted  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions.  When  that  Board’s  period 
came,  tne  entire  Assembly  rose  to  its 
feet  as  a  token  of  appreciation  and 
affection  for  Robert  E.  Speer  as  sen¬ 
ior  secretary  of  that  Board. 

Dr.  Speer  made  a  most  eloquent  ad¬ 
dress  concerning  the  entire  cause  of 
foreign  missions,  and  the  Assembly 
voted  that  the  Board  be  requested  to 
publish  it  and  send  copies  to  all  min¬ 
isters  and  elders. 


f 


15 


Additional  copies  free  on 
request  —  General  Assembly 
Department  of  Publicity 
Walter  Irving  Clar\e,  Editor 
Presbyterian  Church  in  U.  S.  A. 
518  With  erspoon  Bui  id  ing 
Philadelphia  —  Pennsylvania 


